Get Back from the Faerie Godmother!
by lalunaticscribe
Summary: In a world where witches live, surely other supernatural creatures must coexist as well... that's why, be careful what you wish for. Or: That one time Ginji wished for and got stuck with a real faerie godmother, got kidnapped, and had to be rescued.
1. The Beginning, As Always

_**Get Back from the Faerie Godmother**_

_**An LLS Production**_

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**Prologue: The Beginning, As Always**

"Ban-chan, Ban-chan!"

Under a head of spikes resembling a magnificent black sea urchin, Midou Ban groaned at the _chibi_ sticking onto him. "Get off me, Ginji!"

Amano Ginji, currently chibi-fied, looked with googly eyes to the other Get Backer. Unfortunately, Ban was hardly of a mind to forgive him, and out came the hammer from some mysterious subspace accessible only to him.

"Ban-chan..." the blond sniffed, in pain for a moment. "Ban-chan, tell me a bedtime story!"

"Fine, what kind?"

"Fairy tales!" Ginji cheered.

"Idiot," Ban cursed but thought about one anyway. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess cursed to fall asleep for a hundred years by an evil faerie. Prince Charming came along on a white horse and kissed her, causing her to wake up. The end."

"Ban-chan, that's no fun!" Ginji pouted. The sight was rather endearing, in a woobly-eyed way.

"Sorry. Should I tell you the story of the evil kidnapping faeries? Or the one where the faeries caused Rip van Winkle to sleep for a hundred years so that when he woke up he was an old man and everything familiar around him was gone?"

"But, Ban-chan, fairies aren't always evil!"

"Ginji," Ban sighed. "The old tales have been hidden away from the mainstream public. Trust me, fairies are morally suspect, if not evil. Like Akabane."

"But... then faerie godmothers are nice!" Ginji pointed out. "They can't be like Dr Jackal!"

"Discredited, Ginji," Ban dismissed. "If faeries were godmothers, the poor wee bairn would've been cursed several times over already."

Ginji pouted, cute in his hooded pyjamas. Tonight the Get Backers actually had a room to kip in, so they did not need to sleep in the Ladybug and, along with some food in their stomachs and some cash, not much but theoretically enough to last until the next job, the night was a comfortable one by their standards. "Why? Faerie godmothers give lots of things!"

This earned him another whack. "Idiot! Faerie godmothers only do that to repay a debt, if not ask for your first-born child! They're thieves!"

"Eh?" Ginji rubbed the sore spot on his head. Despite the blond's previous title of the Lightning Emperor, he was... sorely _lacking_ in the intelligence department. "You're mean, Ban-chan!"

"Ginji, faeries kidnap children and drag them into the other worlds," Ban growled. "There, the children are offered food by the faeries. If they eat faerie food, they can never come back. It's almost impossible to retrieve something stolen by the Fair Folk. They're, simply put, impossible."

"Nothing is impossible for the Get Backers!" Ginji argued, but rested anyway. "But, for someone who has nothing to lose, a nice, warm, gentle fairy godmother must be nice... someone who won't hit me, someone with food..."

"You'd sell out yourself for food, bastard?" Ban hit him on the head again for good measure.

Ginji sniffed in hurt, looking out at the star-filled skies. "I wish I had a fairy godmother, if only to know kindness."

"Idiot," Ban dismissed as he locked the blond in a rather close head-lock. "Who needs a faerie godmother when you have this invincible Midou Ban-sama?"

"True..." Ginji brightened. "I love you, Ban-chan!"

"Shut up, you."

Even so, wishes are powerful things. If one wishes hard enough for something, it would definitely come through. And, sometimes, in a world where witches and magic can exist, so can the old tales...

Be careful what you wish for. Always. Someone forgot to tell Amano Ginji that.

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	2. The Faerie Witch

_**Get Back from the Faerie Godmother!**_

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**1: The Faerie Witch**

Another day spent at the Honky Tonk Café. Another jobless day, with few customers.

"Your tab is being run up again," Paul warned the two.

"Shut up," Ban growled.

"Sorry, Paul-san," Ginji sniffed. "It's a slow day again..."

"It's alright, Ginji-kun!" the waitress of the Honky Tonk, Natsumi reassured. "Coffee?"

Ginji perked up. "Free coffee? Thank you, Paul-san, Natsumi-chan!"

"Must... resist..." Paul glanced at the smiling blond and gave up. "Here you go."

"What about me?" Ban protested loudly. "Why does this idiot get free stuff?"

"If someone would only pay their bottomless tab we wouldn't have this issue," Paul sniffed at the other Get Backer. "Really, Ban. If you're not careful, Ginji will be stolen away from you!"

"Bah!" Ban muttered. "Who'd want this idiot?"

"That's not true," Natsumi pointed out. "I mean, there's something lovable about an idiotically powerful boy, right?"

Ginji looked up. "What?"

The door to the shop opened with a ring of the bell as the woman entered.

Paul glanced up. "Welcome to the... Honky... Tonk..."

"Beauty!" Ban's eyes sparkled at the sight of a shapely figure, braided green hair and a face of average proportions, not to mention the conservative wear that just screamed money.

"Well, I'm sorry..." the woman shyly whispered, her accent strong but still audible. "But... I was told I could find the Get Backers around here?"

"Yes!" Ban leapt into his usual service spiel. "Do you have anything that's been taken from you? We're the great retrievers, the Get Backers! Hire us, and you're one hundred percent guaranteed to get it back!"

"Yes, almost one hundred percent!" Ginji chirped.

"Stop saying almost!" Ban hit him. "I'm sorry, my partner is rather mentally negligent. I'm Midou Ban, and this is Amano Ginji. We're the Get Backers retrieval service!"

The woman laughed, a sound that echoed relief. "Oh, my, what excitable boys. Well, I'm Edogawa Mizuki, nice to meet you. Well, shall we get to business?"

"Quite eager to get this over with," Ban muttered as Ginji and he sat across the woman.

"I want you to find my godson," the woman, Mizuki, proposed. "I have no idea where is he, or his name, or how he looks."

"...that sounds absolutely impossible," Ban flatly stated.

"No, no," Mizuki answered. "Well, he looks a lot like your partner here. He also feels like your partner. Amano Ginji, right?"

Ginji turned into his chibi form. "Yes!"

"Oh, my~ Can I call you Gin-chan?"

"Yes, lady!"

"So... he looks and feels a lot like Ginji?" Ban muttered as she hugged the chibi-fied Ginji.

"Oh, yes," Mizuki nodded as Paul served up the coffee, pouring some sugar into it. "Here, Gin-chan!"

Ban gaped as the woman actually lifted the cup to feed the _chibi_ Ginji, ignoring the teaspoon present. "Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quack like a duck, bet it's a damned duck..."

Mizuki slapped an envelope on the table. "Fifty thousand up front. I'm prepared to pay one million. Three million if I come along."

"That's so nice, lady!" Ginji yelped as Ban quickly took the cash.

Ban sighed. "Okay, the Get Backers accept!"

"My, such a pleasant boy," Mizuki murmured. "Come along, Gin-chan. We'll start with Shinjuku!"

Midou Ban gaped as she got up and walked out with the chibi-Ginji in her arms, the bell tingling eerily in the ensuing silence as she and Ginji passed through the arch.

The three people still inside gaped, before Ban rushed out to look.

* * *

"So, where does your godson hang out?" Ban asked as they walked down the street.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Ban gaped at this ignorant woman who was ignoring him in favour of cooing over his partner.

"I only just got him," Mizuki answered as Ginji walked by her. "Truly, I have no idea what to expect. There are many desperate people in this world like my godson. But, I believe that fate led us to meet for some reason."

"So, this godson you have is like a stranger?" Ginji asked.

"Yes, Gin-chan," Mizuki agreed. "I wish he was as cute as you, though."

"T- Thank you, lady!" Ginji heatedly agreed.

"You're an idiot!" Ban scolded.

"Lady, what do you do?" Ginji asked.

"Oh, I run a laundry service," Mizuki answered. "I get all the horrible jobs of washing grave clothes, though. There are so many who dies..."

Ginji placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be sad, lady."

"Thank you, Gin-chan," Mizuki whispered.

Sourly, Ban took quick glances at the suspicious woman who kept walking briskly.

"So, what does a retrieval service do, Gin-chan?" Mizuki asked him.

"Oh, it's fun!" Ginji outlined. "Well, we get back the things people lose or are stolen from baddies! Sometimes Ban-chan and I risk our lives in it! That's why we have an almost hundred-percent success rate!"

"Don't say 'almost'!" Ban was about to hit again when he spotted her sour look.

"Gin-chan, thank you for following this foolish woman," Mizuki stated. "I lost my first child, and my husband left... but I love children and taking care of them. So, this godson is very precious to me."

"Really?" Ginji sparkled. "We'll find him for you!"

_Yes, but they're a lot of blonds in Shinjuku,_ Ban sourly reflected. _Maybe this woman is just lonely... or she's got an ulterior motive._

"Say, Gin-chan," Mizuki murmured. "If you became my godson, would you be happy?"

"Well..." Ginji reflected. "I don't know, but probably! After all, even though you've never met your godson, you love him enough to pay us to find him, right? Such a loving godmother must be very caring!"

"...Anyway, how did you even end up with a godson?" Ban asked.

"Oh, that... one day that boy wished for a nice, warm godmother, if only to know kindness," the woman airily answered. "I heard that wish, and I became that godmother."

"Haa?" Ban paused as he glanced at her. "You became his godmother for that reason? Are you an idiot? You might as well take Ginji as your godson!"

Mizuki stilled.

"Ban-chan, that's not very nice!" Ginji defended. "I'm sure that you'll be a good godmother, no matter how you met, okay? We'll quickly find your godson!"

"About that... Gin-chan, thank you." Mizuki smirked openly, and suddenly Ban felt very afraid. "And I thank thee, Midou Ban, for allowing me this godson."

"What?" Ban gaped as the woman hugged the chibi-Ginji, twirled on one leg-

-and disappeared.

For a long moment, he did not speak, until...

… _"GINJI!"_

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	3. The Disappearing Ginji

_**Get Back from the Faerie Godmother!**_

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**2: The Disappearing Ginji**

Maria Noches looked like a twenty-year old fortune-teller along a back-alley of Shinjuku itself. In actual fact, she was the apprentice of the Witch Queen herself and ninety-nine years old already.

"So," Maria quietly pronounced. "Gin-chan got kidnapped by an evil faerie who wants to make him her godson? I wouldn't mind that myself, really, so cute-"

"Enough, old hag!" Ban yelled. "He freaking disappeared in the middle of Shinjuku with the woman, Edogawa Mizuki or whatever she is! We gotta save Ginji!"

"But, the faeries need permission to steal him away," Maria noted. "Whether in spoken or written form, there has to be an agreement. Of course, the faeries cannot lie about themselves, but they have had centuries of telling half-truths and twisting words like snakes. Surely you know as well, the power of words."

_Are you an idiot? You might as well take Ginji as your godson!_

Ban felt like slapping himself. "I think... I called her an idiot, and told her that she might as well take Ginji as her godson, since she hired us to find her godson but she keeps sticking to Ginji..."

Maria sighed. "Well, he's in the other world now. He'll remain there until she gets bored of him and throws him out to starve. It might be ten years, it might be a hundred years, who knows."

"Don't screw with me!" Ban protested. "You're a hundred years old, surely you know something!"

"I'm only ninety-nine, brat!" Maria protested. "Anyway... what type of faerie is she? We need to find out the faerie that took Gin-chan. It's not that hard, since there aren't many European faeries in Japan itself, much less one capable of becoming a godmother. Also, when did Ginji wish for a faerie godmother? That's not a very common wish."

"Dammit!" the table broke under his fist as he thought.

_But, for someone who has nothing to lose, a nice, warm, gentle fairy godmother must be nice... someone who won't hit me, someone with food... I wish I had a fairy godmother, if only to know kindness._

_Truly, I have no idea what to expect. There are many desperate people in this world like my godson. But, I believe that fate led us to meet for some reason..._

_I lost my first child, and my husband left... but I love children and taking care of them. So, this godson is very precious to me._

_Oh, I run a laundry service... I get all the horrible jobs of washing grave clothes, though. There are so many who dies..._

"_Bean nighe,_" Ban put together. "The Washerwoman at the Ford."

Maria considered. "That might actually be true. The _bean nighe_ based in Tokyo is one of those faeries who can grant wishes... at a price, of course."

"Edogawa Mizuki..." Ban growled.

"That name is most likely an alias, Ban-chan," Maria pointed out. "The True Name of a faerie is not something to be bandied about, especially for something like the _bean nighe_."

"True Name..." Ban realised. "Maria, she hasn't paid me yet. That... creates a debt, right?"

"Right," Maria agreed. "How much is it?"

"Erm, three million yen," Ban answered. "I didn't think much of it..."

"Something like that is going to be peanuts for one of the Long-Lived Fae," Maria scratched her head. "It's possible that it's already at the Honky Tonk, but as long as it's not in your hands, you can probably claim a debt and Gin-chan back."

Ban was already furiously dialling on his cellphone. "Hello?"

"Ah, Ban!" Paul called over the phone. "There's a cheque for three million yen waiting for you-"

"No!" Ban yelled. "Paul-san, keep it! Don't cash it in!"

"E- Excuse me?"

"Paul-san, listen to me if you want to see Ginji again!"

A moment of silence followed before Paul's voice spoke up. "It's currently in the hands of Dr Jackal. He's been hired to 'transport' it to you by any means necessary."

Ban paled. The _bean nighe_ was being serious, if she was hiring the bloody doctor to transport it. "Tell him to keep it away. He takes assignments by how valuable they are, tell him that if he gets it to me he loses Ginji forever. Tell him that."

Another few minutes of silence. "Good afternoon, Midou Ban."

Ban gritted his teeth. "Akabane."

"I heard everything from where you were telling Wan Paul about the risk," Akabane Kuroudo continued. "In the interest of fighting the Lightning Emperor at a later date, I offer a truce. Of course, I will be keeping the cheque on myself until a suitable time at which I may conclude my assignment."

"No, keep the thing away from me until I get Ginji safely back, at which I'm getting my cash from you," Ban snarled. "Don't you dare, Akabane."

"You should treasure Amano Ginji some more. At least he was more amusing than the irritable snake you are becoming." Akabane hung up.

Ban was still scolding through eighteen generations of Akabane's lineage as Maria pulled out a few dusty tomes. "But, Ban-chan, you know what this means, right? To enter the other world, you need magic. In short..."

"...to become a witch," Ban muttered. "What if I don't want to?"

Maria's lips thinned. "We lose Gin-chan. I can open the doors, but Faerie is huge. It would take forever to search for him."

Ban matched eyes with the witch. "There's a way to get him back, right?"

Maria solemnly nodded. "There is. It's called the 'Tam Lin Clause'."

"Tam Lin, as in the Child Ballads?"

"Exactly," Maria said with another nod. "The Sidhe, that is, the _bean nighe_ and associated, are of the Old World. They are bound to specific customs if they are carried out precisely. The Tam Lin Clause allows someone who has a prior claim on the enthralled mortal to prove their claim and take them back. However, there are three very specific criteria that must be followed.

"First, the claimant must have a legal, moral, physical, or emotional claim on the victim. Usually they are the spouse, or a pregnant lover, or a child. Second, the claimant must confront the Court and correctly identify the ensorcelled mortal. Not easy since the Sidhe love illusions and disguise, and the abducted mortal cannot help in any way. Third, the claimant must prove their worthiness through a Trial by Ordeal."

Ban considered, recalling what little he had read. "That's where Tam Lin transforms and is held down by Margaret until he's turned back, and then she clothed him in mortal garments, breaking the bonds holding him in the Faerie-land. Then... we have a legal claim, because technically she hasn't paid for Ginji."

"A very loose one," Maria pointed out. "Since she could pay you right there and then. You need a way to coerce the _bean nighe_."

"But..." Ban snarled as he recalled how she took the cup, but not the teaspoon, after adding sugar. "Iron."

"Cold iron," Maria agreed.

"There's also much more," Ban added. "For one thing, _bean nighe_ shouldn't be so common, especially in Japan where _yokai_ are more common. Yet, how did a _bean nighe_ that usually lives in Scotland coincidentally hear Ginji's wish and kidnap him? Was it sent?"

"It could be a coincidence," Maria considered, but her features were frowning.

"Coincidence my ass," Ban shot back as he began dialling. "Hello, Perso-com boy? I need you to do a world-wide satellite sweep for Ginji, or any indication of Ginji. He's been kidnapped. No, I don't know where, but I _will_ get him back."

"You will have to become a witch to do so," Maria singsonged as he hung up.

"Fine."

"Fi- eh?" Maria was taken aback.

"I'll become a witch to rescue Ginji," Ban growled. "But, after that, the world of witches is dead to me."

"So naïve," Maria cooed. "To match something like the _bean nighe_ you will need even more, you may even need to walk past the point of no return. But, to fight so sincerely for Gin-chan... heh, how cute. One more thing, Ban. Ginji will be completely under her glamour. You know, right? That the Fae have that power to manipulate perceptions."

"Yeah," Ban growled. "I have until Ginji decides to eat to get him back. Knowing that idiot, it's not even going to be ten minutes."

* * *

"Gin-chan, why won't you eat?" Mizuki whispered.

Ginji quietly poked at the cranberries, recalling Ban's words; _eat faerie food, they can never come back..._

"Gin-chan," the woman, the green-haired woman whispered.

The place was a single room, where the woman had dragged him to. The floor was wooden, though the boards looked weathered and dry. Shelves stood against the stone walls. A loom rested in the far corner, near the fireplace, a spinning wheel beside it. Before the fireplace sat the rough table, his chair, the rocking chair the woman occupied squeaking as it moved.

It was comfortable, smelling like lavender or that thing Ban-chan hung up with sheets when they were rich enough to afford things like this. The feeling was also rather alien without Ban-chan. Ban-chan...

"Don't worry, Gin-chan," the woman whispered enticingly. "You heard Midou Ban himself. He called you mentally negligible, an idiot, a lot of things you don't deserve. You see the world differently, right, Gin-chan?"

"Thank you," Ginji murmured in answer. His stomach growled.

"Well, why don't you have some?" Mizuki offered.

Ginji made no move.

Mizuki _tsk_ed. "How sad... here you go."

Ginji's eyes widened at the sight of sandwiches wrapped in the packaging of the Honky Tonk and a paper cup. "This...!"

"Well, Gin-chan, you're my godson now," Mizuki whispered. "As your godmother, I have to feed you somehow, right? It's fine to eat mortal food, don't you know?"

"You're the best, lady!" Ginji mumbled through a huge bite.

The woman frowned. "Didn't I introduce myself?"

"It sounded fake. I didn't know how to address you."

Mizuki actually laughed. "Call me Godmother, then. You _are_ my godson."

"Thank you, Godmother."

"Good boy, Gin-chan~. Don't worry, we have plenty of time together."

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	4. The Tam Lin Clause

_**Get Back from the Faerie Godmother!**_

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**3: The Tam Lin Clause**

"He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow," she related.

There was a river beside the small wood cottage that, surprisingly, contained not a single electrical implement about the place. By this cottage within the river was a ford, or a shallow area where it was possible to walk across. Two huge trees grew by this ford, their branches huge and sturdy enough to hang washing out to dry and the leaves themselves green with promise.

It was here that his new godmother was washing, and telling stories as she went through the back-breaking work with his assistance. Her green dress stood out, with his own green outfit of shirt, shorts and shoes by the side.

"So is that story about the monkey's paw true, Godmother?" Ginji asked.

"Perhaps," she shrugged. "There are many ways to grant wishes, and to have wishes granted. One of the most foolproof is usually to be prudent, but... well, sometimes fate does rule people's lives. Fate itself will not allow such to be happy. Therefore these people have to find and snatch their own happiness for themselves."

Ginji looked at her sadly, the cool water trickling over his bared feet. "That sounds horrible."

She sighed, standing up with the wrung-out washing in a basin. "Help me hang this up, and I'll get the tea, okay?"

"Godmother, you talk with an... ac- cent," Ginji messed up.

"Accent," she absently corrected. "A distinctive way of pronouncing a word. Such as the different between the 'san' and 'han' that mean the same, but one is more common in the Kansai area and the other across Japan itself."

"Ah," Ginji nodded in awe. "You know so much, Godmother. Just like Ban-chan."

"Midou Ban has yet to live long enough to match one of the Sidhe," the woman promised darkly as the sheets spread across one branch. "Well, Gin-chan, shall we have tea?" Her dark green eyes shined with a kindness that made her beautiful, even past her average features.

An hour later, Ginji found himself at an unusually low table his self-appointed godmother had set his tea and a plate of cookies on. "Scottish breakfast," she announced pleasantly. "The very best kind of tea. Much better than that British."

Ginji frowned, but seeing as there was a tea-bag, unless tea-bags were even more common amongst fairies, he accepted. "Thank you, Godmother."

"Oh, you're such a polite dear," she praised with a smile. Her features sagged a little with melancholy. "You're just the sort I would have loved to have as a son," she mentioned.

Seeing the shadow darken her eyes, Ginji could feel a twist of sympathy toward her. There was some tragedy in her past that she held close to her heart, and having lived with Midou Ban who shared a similar history, the electrokinectic boy knew not to pry or pity. Instead, he smiled as brightly as he could at the sad compliment. "Thank you, Godmother."

His voice seemed to break her out of whatever reverie she'd been momentarily lost in. "Oh, dear, I thought I noticed a certain cloud over your head. Here, have a black and white cookie," she urged, pushing the plate toward him.

She looked so convinced that a cookie could successfully cheer him up, that the blond retriever chibi-fied and found himself believing her as well, and bit into the sweet treat.

In all his years, Ginji had never had the experience of someone trying to soothe his troubles by offering him baked goods. Even Paul-san was more likely to offer coffee instead. As the delicious taste spread on his tongue, Ginji could feel his heart lighten. The weather felt warm, the company pleasant. He wanted nothing more, suddenly, than to pass the entire day with her.

"This is really good," he complimented around his mouthful. "I wish Ban-chan could eat this."

"Ah," she murmured. "Were your adventures with Ban-chan fun? How did the two of you meet?"

"Yeah!" Ginji brightened. "Well, you see, there's this place in the Infinite Fortress..."

As Ginji continued to babble, she gave a wan smile. The witch-ling would never use magic, that she hoped. That she wished. That the witch-ling would have no claim on her godson.

* * *

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Call upon the power of Asclepius the Serpent Bearer. Breathe in, breathe out. Focus. That thin wall between worlds where Ginji waited, tempted by food that would render any retrieval mission moot...

"Ready?" Maria asked.

Ban's temple throbbed. "I mean, Faerie is going to be more packed with predators than the Infinite Fortress, and the animals there are unlikely to be unfriendly to humans. Yes, just peachy."

"Well, that sharp tongue is in place," Maria stated. "Let's go, then."

They were in Maria's dusty, cluttered fortune-telling shop for a moment. And then, they stood on some kind of spongy grass, on a low, rolling hill surrounded by other low, rolling hills in the next moment. The mist lay over the land like a crippled storm cloud, sluggish and thick in some places, thinner in others. The landscape was dotted with the occasional tree, boles thick and twisted, branches scrawny and long. A tattered-looking raven crouched on a nearby branch, its bead-black eyes gleaming.

Ban held his head in his hands. "So this is what walking between worlds feels like. Cheery."

"Very Baskerville," Maria agreed.

"Now what?"

At his words, the raven let out a croaking caw. It shook itself, bits of mouldy feathers drifting down, and then beat its wings a few times and settled on another branch, almost out of sight.

"Make a joke about 'nevermore' and I will hex you," Maria warned. "Understand?"

"Never more," Ban smirked.

Maria sighed, then they both started off after the raven. It led them through the cloudy landscape, flitting silently from tree to tree. They trudged behind it until more trees began to rise in the mist ahead of us, thickening. The ground grew softer, the air more wet, cloying.

The raven let out another caw, then vanished into the trees and out of sight.

Ban squinted. "Did you see a light there?"

"Yes," Maria affirmed. "This may be the place."

"Let's go," Ban started forward, but was stopped by a firm hand from Maria.

"Ban," Maria warned. She nodded toward a thick patch of shadows where two trees had fallen against one another. Ban had just begun to pick out a shape when it moved and came forward, close enough that it could be made out clearly.

The unicorn looked like a Budweiser horse, one of the huge draft beasts used for heavy labour. It had to have been eighteen hands high, maybe more by the Master of the Evil Eye's estimate. It had a broad chest, four heavy hooves, forward-pricked ears, and a long equine face. That was where its resemblance to a Clydesdale ended.

It did not have a coat; just a smooth and slick-looking carapace, all chitinous scales and plates, mixing dark green and midnight black. Its hooves were cloven and stained with old blood, or what passed for blood in this sickeningly dark world to Ban. One spiralling horn rose from its forehead, at least three feet long and wickedly pointed. The spirals were serrated on the edges, some of them covered with rust-brown stains. A pair of curling horns, like those of a bighorn sheep, curved around the sides of its head from the base of the big horn. It did not have any eyes-just smooth, leathery chitin where they should have been. It tossed its head, and a mane of rotted cobwebs danced around its neck and forelegs, long and tattered as a burial shroud.

A large moth fluttered through the mist near the unicorn. The beast whirled, impossibly nimble, and lunged. Its spiral skewered the moth, and with a savage shake of its head, the unicorn threw the moth to the earth and pulverized the ground it landed on with sledgehammer blows of the blades of its hooves. It snorted after that, and then turned to pace silently back into the mist-covered trees.

Ban swallowed, looking to a wide-eyed Maria. "Unicorns. Real dangerous. You go first."

"You're horrible, Ban-chan," Maria sighed. "How do we get past it?"

"Snakebite?"

"Tempting. But you'd most probably be skewered first."

"They don't rely on the normal senses, if I recall," Ban muttered. "They sense... thoughts."

"In that case it shouldn't notice you," Maria pointed out.

"Hah," Bananswered in a monotone. "Ha-ha, ho-ho, oh my ribs. I have a better plan. I go through while you distract it."

"Oh, my, you're thinking," Maria murmured.

"I can plan, you know," Ban growled.

"No," Maria pointed to the approaching unicorn. "You're _thinking_."

Ban's eyes widened in comprehension behind his sunglasses. "..._Shit_."

The beast snorted and pawed at the earth and reared up on its hind legs, tossing its mane. Then it started forward at a charge. Its ears flattened back to its skull, and its feet shifted restlessly before it finally rose up on its hind hooves, preparing to lunge, with the deadly horn centred to stab. Ban ran for the nearest tree. The unicorn was faster, but Ban put the trunk between them. It did not slow down; its horn slammed into the trunk of the dead tree and came through it as though it had not been there.

Ban flinched away, but not fast enough to avoid catching several flying splinters in the chest and belly, and not fast enough to avoid a nasty cut on the left arm where one of those serrated edges of the horn ripped through his shirt.

The pain of the injuries registered, but only as background data. He stepped around the bole of the tree, lunging with the Snakebite at the delicate bones of the unicorn's rear ankle.

"_Snakebite_!"

Evidently on unicorns, the bones on the rear ankle are apparently just a bit tender. The beast let out a furious scream and twisted its body, tearing through the tree, shredding it as it whipped its horn free and whirled to orient on the bearer of the Serpent-holder. It lunged, the horn spearing toward him.

Ban swept a random branch on the ground up, a simple parry _quatre, _and shoved the tip out past his body while darting a pair of steps to his right to avoid the beast's oncoming weight. He kept going, ducking a beat before the unicorn planted its forequarters, lifted its hind, and twisted, lashing out toward the head with both rear hooves. He rolled, came up running, and ducked behind the next tree. Th unicorn turned and began stalking toward him, circling the tree, foam pattering from its open mouth.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I _hate_ unicorns," Ban muttered as the beast cried out, the impact of the two hundred kilogram per square centimetre grip finally taking its toll as he danced out back to Maria.

"Shall we?" Maria murmured as she pointed to the lights. There it was, the familiar buzz of Ginji's power, at peace. "Gin-chan is that way."

Ban's heart ached, for some inexplicable reason. "Let's go, Maria. We have to rescue Ginji."

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	5. The Match Begins

_**Get Back from the Faerie Godmother!**_

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**4: The Match Begins**

Over the churning waters of the river, where the waters turned slightly red, she frowned as she held up the white shirt she was washing. "Oh my."

"And, then we had to go back to the Infinite Fortress because of Ban-chan and something about witches..." Ginji was babbling obliviously. "...say, Godmother, it's really good weather to sleep."

"Aye," she answered, frowning. "Gin-chan, could you help me get the lavender inside the house?"

"Yes!" Ginji ran off, and the heavy door slammed shut as the two figures appeared.

"You've come," she stated. "What for?"

"I'm here to get Ginji back," Ban answered her.

"A shame, really," she dismissed. "He is my godson. Why would I let him go back to a harsh life, painfully scraping a living in the mortal world and doomed to die someday when he can live here, happy and fed?"

"He's not your pet!" Ban countered. "You just think of him as a pet, you and all fucking faeries! Now give Ginji back!"

Her eyes narrowed as some pressure seem to come from the very land itself around her. "I paid you to find my godson. You said that I may as well take him as my godson. I have done so, and your reward awaits you in the mortal world. Yet, you tear yourself through to the Sundered Lands and into the land of Faerie. You are a stubborn soul, Midou Ban."

Ban staggered back, growling as some force seemed to strike. When a name was spoken, you almost feel it, that sound that stands out from a crowd of others and demands your attention. When she spoke his Name, when she says it and _means _it, it has the same effect, amplified a thousandfold. She said it exactly right, and it felt like someone had just rung a tuning fork and pressed it against his teeth.

"Mortals are too careless with their True Name," she murmured. "Don't tempt me to show you what I can do by speaking your name and making an effort, mortal. Suffice to say that you could not comprehend the kind of power I have at my command. If you gazed upon me with your Sight, you would see something that would awe you, humble you, and quite probably destroy your reason. I am the eldest of my kind, and the strongest. Your life is a flickering candle to me, and your civilizations rise and fall like grass in the summer."

"Y- Yeah, right," Ban growled as he struggled to his feet. "The Witch King hits harder than you do."

"Ban-chan," Maria sighed.

Her green eyes flicked to the older witch. "Death Knell. Are you here to take him away as well? I do not sense any claim of yours on my godchild."

"...I thought it was a joke," Maria murmured. "You're serious... about taking Gin-chan as your godchild."

"Why ever not?" she snapped. "Gin-chan is special. In a world of iron and steel that corrodes your world, few mortals can call upon the Fae, few who has seen blood and pain and still able to believe in the simplest things in life to reach that magic of the Sidhe. I will teach him the stories of the world. I will show him the splendour of the Courts. He will know that which he has never known with me. What will you offer, witch-child? Aside from a horrible life of pain and fighting, never knowing your next meal and never having enough, what can you offer him?"

"Freedom," Ban rasped. "I will show him the sun."

"Godmother!" Ginji's voice jangled from the distance. "I found the lavender!"

The faerie's eyes flickered as she made a dash for Ginji. Ban was faster, and he leapt, tackling Ginji to the ground. The other went down with a surprised grunt and a few sparks.

"By the terms of the Tam Lin Clause," Ban called loudly, "I assert my prior claim to this man, Amano Ginji."

The bean nighe fiddled with the sleeve of her green dress. "What is the nature of your claim?"

"I have not been paid for my due deliverance. Hence, I shall now reclaim that which you sought me to get."

She frowned. "And on that you would risk both your lives? For should you fail the Trial, I will claim my just prize."

Ban took a deep breath. "I accept the risk. This man is mine, and I will prove my claim."

"So mote it be."

Preparing for what was to come, Ban quickly rolled so that he was lying on his back with a dazed Ginji on top, then wrapped his arms and legs around his captive, closed his eyes, and held on tight.

He did not have long to wait. The body contorted and changed under him, becoming slender and gently rounded, a woman's lighter frame. Ban's heart sank. "Eris."

"Ban," Eris Miroku whispered. "You killed me."

"The shamans did, Eris." Ban shook his head. "Yukihiko is still alive, you know. But... the rest of them died. Killed in service."

"Let go, and I can get up," Eris whispered. "Wouldn't that be nice, to repent for once?"

He breathed, and his hand traced the cheek of the woman. Alive, healthy – at the cost of Ginji's freedom and his own soul. "No. I can't. I won't."

Her face twisted. The healthy flesh melted away again. Tears ran down her face and splashed on his hand, freezing his skin where they fell. "You'll kill me again."

"You're not Eris. Now let Ginji go."

The body pressing his down grew in size and weight. He opened his eyes and saw Kudo Yamato face above him. His heart sank. "Yamato."

"Ban?" the plunderer's voice rumbled, a puzzled look on his face. "I am dead. You killed me?"

He lifted his chin. "Yes. I didn't know that, but you... there was a Voodoo Child. I had to do it to protect Himiko."

There was the smell of the seventh perfume, as Ban lay still, barely breathing, his arms still locked around Ginji's glamoured body. "You're a retriever now? You're not with Himiko?"

"Himiko can't accept that you died at my hand."

"Let me go," Yamato whispered. "I can find Himiko, explain the situation. Even if she knows the truth, she can't quite forgive you, right? I'll convince her."

Ban winced. "Technically, we're sometimes rivals, and she's out for my head."

An ugly light came into his eyes, one he had seen occasionally. "Come on, let him go, and I will live." Yamato said, the seemingly bloodied flesh becoming whole.

"I can't."

"Then die."

Ban felt the corrosion scent, like acid that ate into his prized right hand, and he still clutched on. He rolled, pinning Yamato under him. "I'll kill you again if I have to. Let Ginji go."

His features rippled, coarsening and darkening, and he rolled so that Ginji's body was pressing him down, heavy on top of him again. Der Kaiser's lips twisted in a knowing smirk. "Hello, son."

"Father." Ban acknowledged, meeting the other's eyes. The cunning madness was there, just as it had been in life, and he braced himself, willing his mind to stay sharp. He was growing steadily colder, aware of the icy mud under his back, of the heat escaping from his body with each breath.

"Very clever, son, you broke free of your curse," Der Kaiser said, his voice a silky purr. "I'm proud of you, son. But not quite clever enough. The boy, he doesn't know, does he? That you did it by recalling about him. That you think he's better than you. So much better."

He would have a hundred friends if not for you, Ban acknowledged. Shido, for instance, hated him but respected Ginji, even liked the electric eel. Kazuki, MakubeX, Natsumi, Hevn, even those from the Infinite Fortress, most of their friends loved Ginji but had an ambivalent relationship with Ban. Even the Miroku Seven had liked Ginji when they considered Ban an enemy. It was weird, Ginji's unearthly charisma, like the sun itself that the planets surrounded.

One day, Ban knew that he would meet an asteroid like himself on a similar orbit and he would bow out of Ginji's life.

Der Kaiser gave a weak chuckle, leaning down closer. "Let him go, son. Leave him to these Fae. He will certainly be fed better here than with you. He will be free to make more friends, more relationships that are not tainted by your presence. Perhaps, when they finally tire of him, he will return from the luxury and appreciate you."

Ban growled and rolled, pinning his father to the ground now. "I will never let him go, never. Not even if I have to march into the bowels of Hades to fetch him back. Not even if I have to sell my own soul to ransom him back. Not even if I have to resort to magic and become the Witch King to get him back, you hear me? He is Amano Ginji, and he is no faerie's plaything, but the most important thing in my life. Bite me, faerie fruitcake. I'm taking him back."

Once again, the figure he held changed shape, but this time back to his true form. Amano Ginji lay beneath him, free of enchantment – and completely naked. Ginji shivered as he stared up at him. "B- Ban-chan?"

Ban caught the flask Maria threw at him, taking some himself before pouring some of it into Ginji's mouth. "That should help. You great lump, you'd better be okay..."

He knelt up and looked around. Maria was there, looking very amused as the faerie woman, the _bean nighe_ looked irritated at having lost.

That irritation smoothed over once Ginji sat up. "Godmother! Can Ban-chan stay here?"

Adopting a sad expression, the woman strode over to kneel, looking into Ginji's eyes. "Gin-chan, Midou Ban is going to take you back now. You have to choose. Do you want to stay here with me, or go back with Midou Ban? To that hard, starving life of darkness?"

Ban stiffened. That... he didn't know.

"I'll go with Ban-chan!" Ginji smiled at the stunned faerie. "Sorry, Godmother, but Ban-chan was here first! It might be hard, he does hit me, but he's an important person. That's why, I'm sorry, Godmother. I can't stay, but thank you for being so nice! You're a faerie godmother, right? That's so cool!"

The _bean nighe_ smiled back. "Thank you, Gin-chan. Right now you have to go, but don't worry. Godmother will be watching. If Midou Ban hits you, he is going to get a very nasty surprise, okay?"

"I- I'll visit someday!" Ginji happily answered as he got up, Ban's shirt draped over him. "Definitely!"

"I'm glad. Bye bye, Gin-chan," Affectionately, she rubbed his hair, and kissed him on the forehead. "Well, Midou Ban, Maria Noches? You have won, take him and go."

Ban faced her. "I challenged and won. By the terms of the Tam Lin Clause, we are guaranteed free passage from this place."

She smiled, and the sight did not do anything to make him feel safer. "You may safely leave my cottage by the ford, but after that…" she shrugged. She looked over her shoulder at Maria, and her face hardened.

Maria shrugged. "You still owe me for the last time I was here."

Her pale face flushed, though Ban could hardly guess from anger or chagrin. Maria led the way from the ford to the mist-laden forest, and Ban took Ginji's arm – just to make sure that no one tried to take him again, of course.

"Ginji? You okay?"

The blond slowly nodded. "Yeah but… confused. I remember eating Paul-san's sandwiches. She went every day to buy sandwiches and coffee for me, because I couldn't eat unless it was from the Honky Tonk..."

Ban heaved a sigh of relief as they trod through the mist-covered forest, and there was a sudden whinny. The unicorn dashed forth, its horn lowered in a charge, not for Ban, but for Ginji draped in Ban's shirt.

"Ban-chan!"

"_Ginji_!" Ban roared as the ichor splattered.

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	6. Bitter and Sweet

_**Get Back from the Faerie Godmother!**_

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**Epilogue: Bitter and Sweet**

Maria stared. In a split second, the woman had dashed forward, grabbing the white shirt to drape over herself in the same moment as she threw the green drape over Ginji. The spiralled horn hit, digging through faerie flesh and her heart muscle for the tip to come out one end, before the washerwoman was crushed underfoot one large hoof and the unicorn, vengeance satisfied, left at a canter.

"Godmother!" Ginji was crying. "Why...?"

"I am... the Washerwoman by the Ford," she coughed. The white shirt she now wore was splattered with her own blood, the liquid greenish and thick compared to human blood. "The clothes I wash are the grave clothes of those fated to die. Today, I washed a white shirt. I believed, for a moment, that the life of Midou Ban may be forfeit to me. Then, he gave it to you."

"The shirt... the shirt!" Ban growled in realisation. "So... you rescued Ginji...?"

The woman coughed again. "Gin-chan, I am long-lived. I really... would have been proud of having you for a son, you know. At least... I don't have to lead this cursed existence anymore. Thank... you..."

"Godmother!" Ginji cried out as her hand rested against the ground. "Godmother, wake up! Maria-san, Ban-chan, could you do something?"

"No..." Maria whispered. "That white shirt... has become her grave clothes. She chose to save you, forgoing any thought of her long life to save you, Gin-chan. There is... no fighting fate."

"Say, witch-ling child," the faerie's eyes glittered at Ban. "I... don't understand. Why would... Gin-chan choose to follow you? I just wanted his pain... his pain to stop."

"Pain doesn't stop," Ban whispered. ""The only people who never hurt are dead."

The light died out of her eyes, her breath slowing. She whispered, barely audible, "I don't understand."

"I don't either," Ban answered.

A tear slid from her eye and mixed with the blood.

Then she died.

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They lowered the body into the ford, buoyed by the green cloths found within the cottage as it swam through, shrouded in a bundle.

Ginji solemnly watched her go. "She was a nice faerie."

"...yeah," Ban shrugged. "For a faerie, anyway. I was expecting a bigger asshat."

"We should go," Maria whispered. "The Faerie Queens might be coming at any moment."

Both Get Backers followed the old witch through the mist-covered forest, back to where the two witches had arrived.

"I do remember something," Ginji muttered as they appeared back into Shinjuku, the sun setting over the bustling city. "You were talking to someone, and you said you wouldn't let me go. 'Not even if I have to march into the bowels of Hades to fetch him back. Not even if I have to sell my own soul to ransom him. Not even if I have to resort to magic and become the Witch King to get him back, you hear me?' Did you mean that?"

Ban's mouth suddenly went dry. "Er..."

"If he didn't mean it, the _bean nighe_ wouldn't have let him go," Maria replied conversationally to Ginji, ignoring the glare Ban directed her way. "Not to mention the fact that he insisted on being the one to claim you under the Tam Lin Clause, Gin-chan."

A grin spread across Ginji's face. "That a fact?"

Ban glared at him. "You are all dead to me. Dead, you hear?"

"My hero," Ginji grinned as he tugged Ban toward him. "You haven't yet received a proper hero's reward."

Ban resisted, his lips twisting mockingly. "What, a kiss from the grateful princess? Her heart?"

"A kiss, definitely," Ginji said, determinedly pulling Ban close. "My heart," he murmured in his ear, "You've had for years. You great idiot."

"Eww! Ginji!" Ban was laughing.

Maria smiled proudly as they kissed, yet her smile remained sad. "Fate itself will not allow such to be happy. Therefore these people have to find and snatch their own happiness for themselves. Ban, you've finally done it."

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_**Conclusione della storia.**_

_**Okay, a lot of this fic borrowed influences from '**__**The Tam Lin Clause**__**' on AO3 and '**__**GetBackers: Remake**__**' by Tiro on FF. net. I hope everyone enjoyed it! Please review!**_


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